NIEA Experimental Arts Conference

"We have en­tered the ex­per­i­men­tal age…Ex­per­i­ments are no longer con­duct­ed just in the lab­o­ra­to­ry. They have be­come col­lec­tive ex­per­i­ments that con­cern each and ev­ery one of us." Bruno La­tour, 2004

What is ex­per­i­men­ta­tion? What makes art 'ex­per­i­men­tal'? What are the re­sults of aes­thet­ic ex­per­i­ments and why do we need them? Could artists in­vent new modes of ex­per­i­men­ta­tion with/for sci­ence? What are the dif­fer­ences be­tween ex­per­i­ments and in­ven­tions; ex­per­i­ments and fail­ures; ex­per­i­ment and in­no­va­tion? How do we set up ethi­co-sci­en­tif­ic-aes­thet­ic ex­per­i­ments?

This con­fer­ence will show­case and dis­cuss in­no­va­tive arts pro­jects by lead­ing prac­ti­tion­ers, think­ers and re­search groups that mod­el new forms of trans­dis­ci­pli­nar­i­ty and of­fer new ways of ad­dress­ing re­al-world is­sues. Th­ese in­clude works that have suc­cess­ful­ly 'changed the world' as well as spec­ula­tive ini­tia­tives that rad­i­cal­ly change the way we think. It will sur­vey the re­sults and po­ten­tial of Ex­per­i­men­tal Arts, invit­ing lead­ers in the field to dis­cuss how we can ex­tend and sup­port a plat­form for path-break­ing
ex­per­i­men­ta­tion. The main con­fer­ence will be pre­ced­ed by a two-day Na­tio­n­al Post­gra­d­u­ate Con­fer­ence on Ex­per­i­men­tal Arts.